Rhody's Believe It or Not

During the last week of used book life for Myopic Books of Wakefield, I rummaged through the shelves and found a few treasures, including a bound collection of photocopied pages of cartoons from Paule Stetson Loring. Titled “This Really Happened in Rhode Island,” the volume represented “cartoons that have been presented in the Providence Evening Bulletin” as “compiled from items contributed by readers from all parts of the state.”

Loring, who died in 1968, was a Wickford resident, an artist for Yachting magazine and a longtime cartoonist for the Providence Journal-Bulletin Co. His “This Really Happened In Rhode Island” series has a “Ripley’s Believe It or Not” quality, since they illustrate anecdotal items submitted by Rhode Islanders that were meant to be true, but probably were not seriously fact-checked. Anyway, their charm had little to do with veracity, and everything to do with Loring’s ability to capture the state’s quirkiness in odd incidents, gravestone epitaphs, strange encounters and historical notes – a handful on every page – squeezed inside a line drawing of the basic Rhode Island puzzle-piece shape. Each tidbit and illustration also received a credit line from the reader. All of which made his cartoons a popular feature among notoriously myopic Rhode Islanders. Note also that his cartoons appeared in the Evening Bulletin, which is no longer published, even though Rhode Island was one of the few places in the country where the evening paper outsold the morning paper. (As I remember it, most folks read their paper when they got home from work. So they considered the morning paper “old news.” No kidding. This really happened in Rhode Island.)

Here are a few of my favorite “This Really Happened In Rhode Island” moments (with contributor credit included for posterity):

In 1688 a man was fined heavily for planting a peach tree on Sunday in Providence. (Arnold Galiano, Providence)

In 1840 bath tubs were denounced by doctors and Providence officials charged a water tax per tub. (Judith Halliday, Greenville)

During the winter of 1894 there was horse racing on the Blackstone River – one could skate to Uxbridge from Woonsocket. (E.L. Lemery, Woonsocket)

Spencer Greene was nearly drowned by falling under an open spigot of a whiskey barrel. (Mrs. John Albro, West Greenwich)

During the Gale of 1815 a 520 ton East India ship was torn from her moorings and left high and dry against the Washington Insurance Building. (Leonard Donovan, Bristol)

Just an R.I. hill billy custom – stringing up Johnny cakes for future use. (Mary Darling, Barrington)

The Rawson Fountain Society in 1772 provided the first public water supply for Providence. Wooden pipes were used. The pipes were found in 1922, 150 years later, and in perfect condition. (Mrs. B.V.W., Providence)

Clara Herreshoff (age 14) of Bristol has a rooster that follows her to school, plays dead and rides on her sled. (Alexander Cioe, Barrington)

Michele Felice Corne was the first American to eat a tomato. He raised it at his garden on Farewell Street. (Newport)

Frank McCabe owns a letter addressed to: “Apponaug, Rhode Island. Please deliver this letter to housekeeper for and niece of Mr. Briggs who lives in the sixth house on the right hand side of the street leading to East Greenwich and beyond the bridge who has a sixth sister.” (West Greenwich)

Several years ago an election was won in North Providence when the warden of the losing party ate the winning ballot. (Fred Heap, Centredale)

The Providence Public Library once attached chains to their books. (Mary Slater, Providence)

The first student to be enrolled at Brown University was William Rogers in 1765. (Milton Levy, Cranston)

Sun shining through jug of water on porch sets fire to Barrington house, owned by Earle Davis. (A. Fulmschneider, Barrington)

It was a law in Providence that a horse might not be put to a gallop between the houses of John Whipple and Pardon Tillinghast. (J. Muratore, Providence)

The first insect zoo in America was initiated and conducted by a Rhode Islander, Brayton Eddy. (Emilia Robson, Providence)

It once rained fish in Olneyville. (Laurence Mortensen, Providence)

In 1658 wolves preyed on livestock in R.I. At Warwick (a reward of five hounds) was offered for the death of one large wolf. (Clara Hess, Warwick Neck)

(1908) Pig raised by Charles F. Hambley of East Providence was so big a horse couldn’t drag it. It weighted 1043 pounds, seven feet, four inches long. (George Bourne Jr., East Providence)

On Wednesday July 17, 1935, the lights all went out when a heron got tangled up in the wires near Bonnet Shores. The bird had a wingspread of six feet. (Scott Solomon, Saunderstown)

Charles Whipple was told by his father to go and get a pail of water. His father sarcastically warned him not to be gone more than a year. Whipple went out and went away. He returned exactly a year later. Picked up the pail and brought it into his house. (Matt Harpin, West Warwick)

It’s our world and you’re welcome to it
As befits a state with a history that is little more than a running caricature, Rhode Island has a roster of cartoonists in its annals, including Frank B. Lanning, Jr., who served as sports cartoonist for the Providence Journal-Bulletin Co. from 1937 to 1982, and Don Bousquet of Bonnet Shores, whose cartoons have appeared in several books, magazines and newspapers, including every week in The Independent.

What Rhode Island anecdote would you include in a new edition of “This Really Happened In Rhode Island?”